Chapter 14
Agricultural Changes in the South
(1790-1860)
Chapter 14
Agricultural Changes in the South
(1790-1860)
Section 1
The Growth of Cotton
The South’s Agricultural Economy
 Southerner’s prided themselves on their ties to the land
 Believed future of U.S. rested on agriculture
 Southern agriculture began to decline after American
Revolution
 South’s first major cash crop = tobacco (took longer to
produce)
 Prices for major cash crops (indigo, rice and tobacco) fell
 As prices fell, Upper South switched to crops that needed less
labor (wheat) which led to drop in the value of slaves
 Some slaveholders freed slaves for moral or political
reasons
 Northern states gradually abolished slavery completely
 Some planters freed slaves in their wills
 Leaders predicted slavery would eventually die out
Whitney and the Cotton Gin
 Some southerners saw cotton as a cash crop that
would help the economy
 Expanding British and American textile industries
used cotton the make cloth
 Farmers had trouble keeping up with demand because cotton
was difficult to grow and process
 Southerners had been growing small amounts of
cotton since Jamestown was founded (1607)
 Preferred Long-staple (black seed) because it was easiest
to process; downside = only grew in few places
 Short-staple (green seed) grew well, but difficult to remove seed
 Eli Whitney built cotton gin (1793) – used handcranked cylinder with wire teeth to pull cotton fibers
apart from the seeds
 Visited a Georgia plantation, learned that such a machine
was needed
 Revolutionized the cotton industry, gave new life to
southern agriculture
The Cotton Boom
 Whitney’s gin began cotton boom
 By 1860 southern states east of the Mississippi
produced 2/3 of all U.S. cotton
 More than half of all American exports
 “Cotton Kingdom” stretched from South Carolina to
Texas – became known as the cotton belt
 Referred to as “King Cotton” because of the importance of the
cotton trade to the South’s economy
 Advantages of cotton as cash crop: easy grow, cost little
to market, could be stored for a long time
 Growing and harvesting cotton required many field
hands (so did sugarcane in Louisiana)
 planters began to use more slave labor
 Congress made importation of slaves into U.S. illegal
in 1808
 Domestic slave trade increased
Chapter 14
Agricultural Changes in the South
(1790-1860)
Section 2
The Southern Economy
The Cotton Trade
 Great Britain became the South’s most valuable foreign
trading partner
 Made many believe it had turned the South into a global power
 Sold tons of cotton to growing textile industry in
Northeast
 Led to growth of major port cities – Charleston,
Savannah, New Orleans
 Crop brokers called factors managed the cotton trade
 Farmers sold cotton to merchants who made deals with factors
 Most farmers relied on navigable rivers to get product
to port
 Shipping cotton by land was very difficult in the South
 Roads projects limited, south was slow to build canals, fewer
miles of railroad
 Transportation Revolution had a wider impact in North than South
Agricultural Diversity
 Scientific agriculture – use of scientific methods to improve
farming
 Goals - to increase crop production and protect land
used to grow cotton
 Crop rotation – changing the kinds of crops grown on a piece of
land
 Many worried about South’s dependence on cotton because
it wore out the soil and made the South too dependent on
foreign products
 Common southern crops – rice, sweet potatoes, sugarcane,
and wheat (London bought a lot from Alabama)
 Tennessee = top corn growing state by late 1830s
 Sugarcane became popular in Louisiana after Jean Etienne
Bore (“Savior of Louisiana”) introduced new system for
processing sugar – sugarcane to granulated sugar
 Hemp and flax became major cash crops as a result of the
cotton boom
 Fibers used to make rope and sackcloth
Southern Factories
 Many of first factories built to process crops
Rope industry (Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee),
turning sugarcane into sugar
 Tredegar Iron Works (Richmond) – only
large southern factory that made iron
products (started by Joseph R. Anderson)
One of nation’s most productive iron works
Produced boilers, bridge materials, cannons,
locomotives, steam engines and other products
 South’s industrial growth lagged behind the North
Cash crops seemed to promise great wealth – most
farmers invested in more land and slaves in order to
grow more cotton
Profits went into developing plantation system, not
southern industry
Chapter 14
Agricultural Changes in the South
(1790-1860)
Section 3
Southern Society
The Planters
 First half of 1800s, 1/3 of white southern families had
slaves
 Fewer had plantations
 Despite small numbers, planters had powerful
influence over South
 Served as political leaders
 Influenced the economy
 Showed wealth by living in large mansions; some chose
to live simply, saved all money to buy more land and
slaves
 Male planters primarily concerned with raising crops
and supervising slave laborers
 Running of plantation households left to wife – oversaw
raising of children and work of slaves within the household
 Planters often arranged their children’s marriages
based on business interests
Southern Society and Culture
 Yeomen – owners of small farms
 Majority of southern farmers
 Average southern white women more likely to marry a small farmer
than wealthy planter
 Typically held few slaves or none at all
 By 1860, about 80% of all southern farmers owned their own land
 Average farm approx. 100 acres
 Some earned enough to buy a few slaves; usually worked side by
side with them
 Planters and yeomen often looked down on the landless poorest of white southerners
 less than 10% of white American population
 Lived on land not suited for growing cash crops
 Survived by hunting, fishing, raising animals, tending small
gardens, doing odd jobs for money
Southern Society and Culture
 Religion central to social life
Farm families isolated from one another – saw
neighbors only at church events
 Wealthy white southerners used religion to
justify their position in society and the
institution of slavery
Set them against Northern Christians who
believed God opposed slavery
 Writers provided look into southern society –
romantic view of rural life in south
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) – Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn and Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Urban South
 Urban economy was influenced by plantations
 Southern cities like northern cities in many
ways
City governments built public water systems and
provided well-maintained streets
Public education available in some places
 Southern urban leaders wanted their cities to
appear as modern as possible
Hoped to impress foreign visitors who came to
do business
 Slaves did much of the work in the cities
Worked as domestic servants, in mills, in shipyards,
and at skilled jobs
Urban whites more likely to hold slaves
Free African Americans
 In 1860 more than half of all free African Americans
were living in the South – some found work in
southern cities
 Worked in variety of jobs, mostly as skilled artisans
 In rural areas, they often hired out their services to
plantations
 Churches often served as center of social life
 Free and enslaved African Americans started a rare
independent-church movement in Charleston, SC
 Faced constant discrimination – many cities and
states passed laws limiting the rights of free African
Americans
 Could not vote, travel freely, or hold certain types of jobs
 Whites feared they would try to encourage slave rebellions
 Virginia (in 1806) banned former slaves from living in
the state without special permission
Chapter 14
Agricultural Changes in the South
(1790-1860)
Section 4
The Slave System
Slaves and Work
 Most slaveholders tried to get as much work out of
slaves as possible
 Small farms – wide variety of jobs
 Large plantations – assigned specific tasks
 Drivers made sure slaves followed orders, carried out
punishments – sometimes slaves themselves
 Gang labor system – all hands worked on the same
task at the same time, sunup to sundown
 Men, women and children (around age 10) did the same
work
 Some worked as butlers, cooks or nurses in planter’s
home
 Often better food and clothing than field hands
 Worked longer hours – 24 hours a day
 Some planters allowed slaves who worked skilled jobs
on the plantation hire out their services
 Some earned money to buy their freedom this way
Life Under Slavery
 Slaveholders tended to view slaves as property, not
people
 Some bought, worked and sold to make profit
 Some slave traders kidnapped free African Americans
to sell into slavery
 Slaves received poor clothing and shelter, lived in small
cabins with dirt floors, leaky roofs, and few furnishings
 Some planters allowed slaves to keep their own vegetable
gardens
 Some planters offered more food or better living conditions
to encourage slaves’ obedience, but most used
punishment
 Many states had strict slave codes that limited what
slaves could do
 Prohibited from traveling far from home
 Teaching slaves to read or write usually illegal
Slave Culture
 Despite harsh conditions, many took comfort in their
community and culture
 Strong ties to one another and their heritage
 Family = most important unit of community
 Feared being separated from family more than physical
punishment
 Passed down family histories as well as African customs
and traditions
 Told folktales (stories with a moral) to teach lessons
about how to survive under slavery
 Warned not to trust slaveholders
 Religion was important – by 1800s, many slaves =
Christians
 Used spirituals to express religious beliefs (songs that
blended African and European music)
 Style of worship blended aspects of traditional African
religions with those of Christianity
Challenging Slavery
 Slaves rebelled in small ways everyday
Working slower to protest long hours
Running away for a few days
 Violent slave revolts were rare but white
southerners lived in fear they would occur
 Most violent slave revolt in the U.S. occurred
in 1831 (Virginia)
Nat Turner’s Rebellion – Turner believed God had
called on him to end slavery
 Led a group of slaves that set out to kill slaveholders and
their families – killed about 60 white people in the area
 More than 100 slaves killed in an attempt to put down the
rebellion
 Turner caught within three weeks and executed
 As a result of Turner’s Rebellion, many states
strengthened their slave codes